Human Rights Education

- youth leaders aspiring to engage students in a critical thinking process about human rights and democracy and

- educators in general including trainers of teachers and youth leaders.

The ideal participants would be individuals with a positive attitude to using the creative arts including video and music as a vehicle for learning.

The aim of this training activity is that of inspiring teachers and youth leaders to engage their audience in a critical thinking process as opposed to generic and doctrinal thinking about human rights and democracy. The course is inspired by three elements:
- the result of State of Innovation documents of the RICK'S cafe' network wherein members recommended that there be more youth leadership training for teachers,
- recent history that shows that human rights and issues about democracy are not something of the past or of other regions in the world (Arab Spring, Syria, Libya and other more casual incidents like Wikileaks) and
- the more common manner in which such topics are discussed in class depart from a curriculum that is standard and that is not necessarily one that takes stock of the human rights issues around us in our every day life like immigration, integration and diversity.

The activities in the training activity will also impart knowledge and practical skills in the use of video production and music - and song - both as a vehicles for learning as well as for extra curricular or youth activities. It will engage participants in hands-on activities in order that they can experience the planning and implementation phases of the actions. Participants will look at their own performance with a critical eye ready to improve on every step of the development. This will allow each participant to acquire skills with an open mind to use them as tools within his or her own context.

The topic in discussion is human rights and it will be tackled in what we call the safe approaches to human rights. The programme will explore several avenues through which the educator, trainer or leader can take on a subject like human rights that is often assimilated with controversy. The thing is that human rights are spoken about only when they are taken away. This workshop will however help participants become agents for positive talk that does not, however, compromise on facing historical, social, democratic and issues relating to human rights square in the face. Below are examples of videos produced during youth activities in Porto, Malta and Poland in our safe approach human rights education.

Are you aware that your school or organisation can receive financial support for training and mobility under the Erasmus+ programme ? A number schools and organisations have benefitted from funding and they have taken part in training with us in Barcelona, Valletta, Citta della Pieve, Palermo and Rome. Our team offers support with the application process in order that your school may benefit from such funding bringing the most needed results for the organisation and its members of staff. Contact training@vismednet.net for more info.

Preparation

Before the course the participants will start up a discussion and exchange of experience in order that the networking that will take place during and after the course will start with each participant knowing well the rest of the group. This, together with online discussions using social network platform of the RICK'S cafe' network, will ensure the participants are prepared for the kind of content they will work with. The preparation will be geared towards the fostering friendliness and confidence with the use of media tools as well as a readiness for independent thinking and democracy management in the classroom / audience.

The preparation phase of this training is of paramount importance because content may be adapted according to the pool of participants in the course, their background and experience and their wishes. Content of the training is constructive if prepared and planned well and therefore energy will be invested in it so that the training days can be fruitful and rewarding for all participants.

Objectives

The aim of this training activity is that of creating a very delicate balance between the local experience and context and what is happening around us at a local, regional and international level. It will also create a balance between standard curriculum, sensitivity of the topics, policy in education and youth leadership on one hand and on the other the will to engage students or youths in understanding and listening with a critical mind, forming informed opinions and making out of them positive activists. It will therefore be a mix of venturing into waters that some of us avoid and not creating controversy through half baked opinions and off the hip expressions about rights and democracy.

The objectives of the course are three:
- training in critical thinking and in the formation of informed opinions in the minds of participants through methods that can be emulated and copied in activities with students and youths,
- training in the use of creative media and the production thereof in the classroom or in youth activities in a way that media become a vehicle for discussion and a provocation to creative discussion and
- fostering social cohesion in local communities around the school / youth organisation turning the it into an agent of positive change through its students or youths.

Methodology

The activities are all hands on with continuous didactic input, space for reflection and time to assess outputs. The trainers of the course will work with the group together at times then lead break out groups through a mentoring and direction rather than constant instruction. The methodology adopted seeks to help the participants see and emulate fluid and flexible management of the classroom / audience in order that each one of the group can feel free to participate in the manner and intensity that one feels comfortable with.

The methodology is one built to attain the objectives of the course by:
- creating project work in the training activity in which participants stop and ask, challenge and discuss issues related to human rights and democracy,
- carry out video and creative art projects that may be a vehicle for discussion of human rights and democracy this being in part oriented towards video projects and in part according to any creative talent that may be present in the pool of participants and
- gearing activities towards the practical and the visible so that the process of the training may also have a sharing outwards spirit in key with the context of the course being part of the experience of a network.

Follow-up

The course is part of the outreach exercise of the RICK’S cafe’ network – Renewing Intercultural Competences and Knowledge Spaces – and the follow up is secured through the engagement of the participants in school, youth and classroom projects that will then pertain to the activities programme of the network. The idea is to get the participants not only to participate in a course that ends but that open doors for them into a large network of players in education who have an open attitude to growth, change and experimentation in the field of internationalisation of education.

On the last day of the training the participants and trainers will make a follow up action plan including at least one activity in their respective contexts that emulates activities in the course. The result of such follow up activities will be shared in the network so that the course may also be a step towards the perpetuation of the RICK'S cafe' network and give longevity to the experience in the activity.

Programme of Activities

Day 1
09:00 - 10:00 Introduction of participants and methodology
10:30 - 11:30 Follow up to preparation phase and establishment of common repertoire on rights and democracy
11:30 - 12:30 Introduction to safe approach to human rights issues
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch
13:00 - 16:00 Introduction to video making as part of safe approach to human rights : the RIGHTSperspective

Day 4
09:00 - 13:00 Getting them to sing or paint ? Tapping talents in the classroom. Subcontracting leadership.
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Post production of video making actvity in Days 1 and 2

Are you aware that your school or organisation can receive financial support for training and mobility under the Erasmus+ programme ? A number schools and organisations have benefitted from funding and they have taken part in training with us in Barcelona, Valletta, Citta della Pieve, Palermo and Rome. Our team offers support with the application process in order that your school may benefit from such funding bringing the most needed results for the organisation and its members of staff. Contact training@vismednet.net for more info.